During the warm months, it is often desirable to sit under a large outdoor umbrella (sometimes called a “patio umbrella”) when seated outdoors. As a result, many outdoor tables are adapted for such umbrellas by including an umbrella mounting hole that passes through the tables near their centers. With such a mounting hole, a user is able to pass the pole of the outdoor umbrella through a table and anchor it into a heavy base that sits on the ground beneath the table.
Even so, it has always been difficult to accommodate an umbrella mounting hole in an extendable table. An extendable table typically includes two slidable table top portions that may be abutted against one another in order to close or contract the table, and separated from each other in order to make room for one or more additional table leaves. Accordingly, it is desirable that the slidable table tops have cutouts that collectively define a mounting hole for an outdoor umbrella when the table is contracted. Nevertheless, it is equally undesirable that the slidable table tops have these same cutouts when the table is extended. When the table is extended, the cutouts merely create extraneous and unsightly openings in the extended table top.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for new extendable table designs better adapted to accommodate outdoor umbrellas.